Before the spring planting began, Fang Jie went to the county town to deliver eggs again, which was seen by the villagers.
Fang Jie also told the truth without any hesitation.
We'll find out sooner or later.
The villagers were envious once again.
"Fang Jie, if you take these eggs to the supply and marketing cooperative, how much money will they give you?"
A group of women couldn't help but inquire.
Fang Jie smiled and said, "It's not much, just hard-earned money."
Everyone pursed their lips, knowing that Fang Jie didn't want to talk about it, and they didn't press her for details.
Fang Jie took the brigade's oxcart to town, and then transferred to a bus to the county seat.
During this period, she carried eggs to the county town, always leaving early. Coupled with the cold weather, no one from the village came out, and no one went to town. That's why her delivery of eggs to the supply and marketing cooperative was only discovered now.
Uncle Song, the driver, was a man of few words and never pried into the lives of his passengers. Fang Jie always covered the eggs with a cloth. So Uncle Song had no idea what she did every seven days when she carried a basket to town, or what was in that basket.
As the weather warmed up, everyone got up early and came out, which naturally led them to discover that Fang Jie was delivering eggs to the supply and marketing cooperative.
While everyone admired Fang Jie's intelligence and competence, they secretly decided that they should also hatch some chicks and raise them. They would also deliver eggs to the supply and marketing cooperative to increase their family income every month.
Huang Juan reacted quickly and was the first to take action. She spent money to buy 30 eggs so that her old hen could hatch chicks.
When Li Zhen heard about this, she shamelessly borrowed eggs from Fang Jie's family.
She's not as foolish as Huang Juan, who bought eggs herself—that's incredibly stupid!
Fang Jie: "No!"
Li Zhen played the victim, "Sister-in-law, our family is so poor we can't even afford to eat. In previous years, my husband and I were lazy. This year we changed; we went to work and we also raised pigs. I heard you made money raising chickens, and everyone in the village is following your example. I also want to raise a few chickens, even if we don't sell the eggs, it would be good for the children. But you know my situation; our chicken is so thin it doesn't lay eggs, so we don't have any to hatch chicks. Sister-in-law, could you lend me a few eggs? I'll use them to hatch chicks."
Fang Jie looks at her daughter.
Song Fanxing: "Mom can decide this herself."
In the end, Fang Jie gave Li Zhen five fertilized eggs without saying she was lending them. She knew it would be pointless to say so, as Li Zhen wouldn't return them. She just considered it a good deed on her part.
However, this will only happen once.
Li Zhen happily took the eggs home, put them in the henhouse, and had her old hen tuck them under her belly.
She clapped her hands happily at the thought that five chicks would soon be hatching.
When Song Haitao came home from school, he was overjoyed to find five eggs in their chicken coop and boiled them.
To avoid being discovered while eating alone, he put the boiled eggs in his pocket and went to the back mountain. Only after eating all five eggs did he wipe his mouth and go home.
As soon as I entered the house, I saw Li Zhen hitting Song Xiaomei with a stick.
"You brat, did you steal my eggs?"
Song Xiaomei cried and said, "No, I didn't steal it."
Li Zhen hit her a few more times with the stick, "Tell me quickly, where did you hide the eggs? They're for hatching chicks."
"Mom, I really didn't steal it, it wasn't me... Waaah..."
"Who else could it be but you? It's you, you greedy brat! Did you secretly eat it?"
"No, Mom, I really didn't, I didn't..."
"You stubborn brat!"
Li Zhen kept whipping Song Xiaomei, making her cry loudly.
Song Haitao shrank his neck, lowered his head, and ran into the house.
Song Xiaomei caught sight of him and shouted, "It was Song Haitao who did it! It must have been him!"
Song Haitao paused, turned around and glared at Song Xiaomei.
"Song Xiaomei, are you looking for death?! Which eye of yours saw me?"
“It must be you! You go home first. When I came back from gathering pig feed, I saw you rushing towards the back mountain with something in your pocket.”
When this semester started, her parents wouldn't let her go to school anymore, saying they had no money and that she should stay home to gather pig feed.
She had been cutting pig feed in the field all day and had just returned, but she hadn't seen a single egg.
Song Haitao tried to argue, but Li Zhen had already seen the eggshell stuck to his collar.
She rushed over, grabbed Song Haitao by the collar, and picked up the eggshell.
Song Haitao saw the eggshell and realized he had been exposed, secretly blaming himself for being careless.
Li Zhen was furious. "So it was you! Are you trying to kill me? Those were for hatching chicks, I didn't even have the heart to eat them."
Song Haitao muttered, "I don't know either."
Is there anything else?
Song Haitao shook his head, "I ate them all."
Li Zhen scolded, "How come you didn't choke to death?"
Li Zhen picked up a stick to hit Song Haitao, but when Old Lady Song saw this, she shouted, "Li Zhen, you dare to touch my grandson?"
Li Zhen was afraid of her mother-in-law, so she instinctively stopped what she was doing.
Song Haitao ran smugly and hid behind Old Lady Song.
"Mom, Haitao ate all the eggs I used to hatch chicks. I was waiting to hatch chicks to earn money, and those were borrowed from Fang Jie."
Grandma Song: "So what if he ate them? They're just a few eggs. My grandson needs them to grow. You can just borrow a few more from Fang Jie."
Li Zhen thought about it and realized it made sense. Fang Jie had lent her eggs so easily; if she played the victim a little, Fang Jie would definitely lend her more.
Thinking this, Li Zhen dropped the stick and headed towards Fang Jie's house.
Song Xiaomei knelt on the ground, feeling wronged and distressed.
What did she do wrong? Why are they treating her like this?
When Li Zhen arrived at Fang Jie's house, Fang Jie opened the door and, seeing it was her, did not let her into the courtyard.
Li Zhen shamelessly asked, "Sister-in-law, could you lend me a few more eggs?"
Fang Jie replied coldly, "No!"
"Sister-in-law, Haitao stole the eggs I brought back. Could you lend me a few more? I'll return them to you once I've hatched the chicks and they've grown up and started laying eggs."
"Li Zhen, I've already given you five eggs. You can't borrow any more! You don't need to pay back those five eggs. Now get out of here!"
After saying that, Fang Jie slammed the courtyard gate shut.
Li Zhen slunk home, her anger simmering with nowhere to vent.
That day, Song Yaohui and Song Yaohua brought home a small black dog after school. It was very small, like a newborn.
Fang Jie: "Where did you come from?"
Song Yaohua said eagerly, "It was the dog from Shugui's family at the edge of the village. It had two puppies in one litter, and they couldn't keep them all, so my brother and I went and brought one back. Didn't Mom say she wanted to get a dog to guard the house?"
"Yes, I asked a few people in the village before, but none of them had puppies, so I forgot about it. Okay, let's keep this one and let it guard the house."
Fang Jie made the decision to keep the little black dog.
From then on, the courtyard became even more lively.
Xiao Hei is very clever, with a keen sense of smell. Whenever a stranger approaches their gate, it will bark loudly.
Spring planting season arrived in the blink of an eye, and Fang Jie got busy with work.
The three children take care of all the big and small things in the family.
After school, Song Yaohui and Song Yaohua would symbolically gather some pig feed. In reality, their pigs had plenty to eat; they ate sweet potatoes, sweet potato vines, and pumpkins every day—more than they could possibly eat.
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